《The Descendants》　后裔　一场净化人心的变故

No.068　《The Descendants》　后裔　一场净化人心的变故

英文导读

The Descendants is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne. The film stars George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard and Robert Forster, and was released by Fox Searchlight Pictures in the United States on November 18, 2011 after being screened at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

Alexander Payne's seriocomic The Descendants, an adaptation of the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, stars George Clooney as Matt King, a middle-age Hawaiian who runs a trust responsible for millions of dollars worth of untouched real estate that has been passed down to him and various cousins. He is preparing to sell the area, and make millions for everyone in the trust, when his wife Elizabeth suffers severe head trauma during a boat race.

Matt and Elizabeth have two daughters, 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and 17-year-old Alex (Shailene Woodley). Matt is not very close to his daughters and refers to himself as the "back-up parent". With Elizabeth in a coma at Queen's Hospital, he is forced to confront Scottie's inappropriate behavior with other children and Alex's destructive ways.

Matt learns that Elizabeth will never awaken from her coma, which means that under the terms of her living will she must be disconnected shortly from life support. He tells Alex, but not Scottie, that Elizabeth will not recover and must be allowed to die. To Matt's dismay, Alex initially refuses to see her mother. She then reveals to her father that Elizabeth was having an affair at the time of the accident, which caused a major rift between the mother and daughter. With his two daughters in tow, along with his oldest daughter's doofus boyfriend, Matt sets off to confront the man who made him a cuckold.

The film began its on-location shoot in Hawaii on March 15, 2010. Most of the film was shot in Honolulu and around Hanalei Bay. Underwater photographer Don King filmed a scene where Alex King sinks below the surface of a pool and screams out her grief underwater. The house used as Matt King's house had a flaw in that it lacked the banyan tree described in the book; the filmmakers solved the issue by transplanting a banyan. For the scene where the King family drives up to a ridge to look over their land, the film used a 3,000-acre private cattle ranch on the south shore of Kauai, Kipu Ranch. Kaui Hart Hemmings, the author of the novel on which the movie was based, had a cameo as Matt King's secretary.

The Descendants screened at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. The Descendants received positive reviews upon release. On Rotten Tomatoes it scored an approval rating of 89%. The website's consensus is: "Funny, moving, and beautifully acted, The Descendants captures the unpredictable messiness of life with eloquence and uncommon grace."

The Descendants won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as two Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture – Drama and Best Actor – Drama for Clooney.

获奖情况

2012年第84届奥斯卡：最佳改编剧本奖，并荣获最佳影片提名、最佳导演提名、最佳男主角提名、最佳改编剧本提名奖。

影片信息

导演：亚历山大·佩恩

编剧：亚历山大·佩恩、纳特·法克森、吉姆·拉什

主演：乔治·克鲁尼、谢琳·伍德蕾、马修·里沃德

类型：剧情、家庭

制片国家（地区）：美国

上映日期：2011-11-16（美国）

片长：115分钟

又名：《继承大丈夫》《继承人生》《后人》

剧情简介

地产商马特（乔治·克鲁尼　饰）的妻子因为一次意外变成了植物人。最近医生告诉他，妻子的生命将走向尽头，这个消息令他倍受打击。同时，作为夏威夷某岛的继承人，他还在与信托基金谈开发事宜。

忙乱之中，马特的两个女儿让他更加焦头烂额。小女儿斯科蒂（阿玛拉·米勒饰）经常对同学爆粗口，马特只得带她亲自去同学家登门道歉。大女儿亚利桑德拉（谢琳·伍德蕾　饰）寄住在学校，在学校里整天喝酒。母亲病危，马特希望亚利桑德拉可以消除对母亲的敌意。意想不到的是，女儿说出了一个让马特不能接受的事实：母女决裂的原因是——她发现了母亲出轨。

这彻底毁了妻子在马特心目中的印象。他跑去找妻子的闺蜜证实，结果答案竟然是真的。一直被蒙在鼓里的马特既失望又愤怒，开始带着女儿顺藤摸瓜，寻找第三者……

制作花絮

影片根据女作家凯·哈特·赫明斯的处女作小说改编。

影片于2010年3月15日开始在夏威夷拍摄，同年6月14日杀青。后期工作在2011年2月完成。影片原计划于2011年12月16日举行小规模的放映，后来提前到了11月23日，最后则被定在了11月18日上映。

影片中使用了大量夏威夷当地音乐，很多当地的音乐家都参与到了影片的制作中。

阿曼达·塞弗里德曾经为片中女儿的角色到剧组试镜。

重点学习

That has been passed down to him

文中的pass down是英语中的一个固定搭配，在文中，它是“流传；遗传；传给下一代”的意思，比如：The craft has been passed down over five generations.（这种手艺已经传了五代。）另外，它还可以表达“把…向下传递；一个人接一个人地往下传”的意思，比如：The fruit-picker up the tree passed the fruit down to his partner who stood at the foot with a basket.（树上摘苹果的人将苹果递给站在树下拿着筐子的同伴。）

Matt sets off to confront the man who made him a cuckold

Set off是英语中的一个固定搭配，当你set off, you start a journey. 也就是“启程；出发”的意思，文中就是这个意思。比如：The president's envoy set off on another diplomatic trip.（总统特使再次踏上外交之旅。）另外，set off其他较常用的意思还有“引起；激起；点燃：使爆炸；发射；衬托；使显得美丽”，比如：The slightest spark can set off the explosives stored here.（一点点火星就能够使储存在这里的火药爆炸。）

单词时间

seriocomic[ˌsiəriəuˈkɔmik] adj. 庄严又诙谐的

untouched[ʌnˈtʌtʃt] adj. 未受影响的；未改变的；未触动过的；不受感动的

cousin[ˈkʌzən] n. 堂兄弟姐妹；表兄弟姐妹

trauma[ˈtrɔ:mə] n. 创伤（由心理创伤造成精神上的异常）；外伤

inappropriate[ˌinəˈprəupriət] adj. 不适当的；不相称的

destructive[diˈstrʌktiv] adj. 破坏的；毁灭性的；有害的，消极的

rift[rift] n. 裂缝；不和；裂口

doofus[ˈdu:fəs] adj. 古怪的；愚蠢的

cuckold[ˈkʌkəld] n. 有不贞妻子的男人

underwater[ˈʌndəˈwɔ:tə] adj. 在水中的；水面下的

banyan[ˈbænjən] n. 菩提树；印度榕树

ranch[rɑ:ntʃ] n. 大农场；大牧场